YouTube will use Wikipedia to fact-check internet hoaxes

Among many other things, YouTube is a powerful way for knuckleheads to spread conspiracy theories such as the notion that NASA faked the moon landings. Watch one such video, and the service will typically suggest that you indulge in a lot more of them.

Speaking at the SXSW festival in Austin today, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said that the company will begin supplementing hoax videos with facts from Wikipedia and other sources. That will be bad news for Alex Jones—but it should be way better than the current situation, in which conspiracy lovers can gorge on fantasy sans even the slightest dash of reality.

Not that this step will solve matters by itself:

“pleased to inform our users that our infinitely gameable platform will now be protected from disinformation by a service that can be edited by literally anyone” https://t.co/DatWxjstki